


Ode to the Engineerer

by TerresDeBrume



Series: Sn(e)aky eagles and gorgeous reptiles (and other animals from the zoo that is Hogwarts) [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Cultural Differences, Journalism, M/M, Muggles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-11
Updated: 2013-02-11
Packaged: 2017-11-29 00:00:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/680362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerresDeBrume/pseuds/TerresDeBrume
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s funny because sometimes, the best ‘I love you’-s don’t even have the word love in them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ode to the Engineerer

After they graduated from Hogwarts with flying colors, Tony gathered all his belongings (including a miniaturized Dum-E) left a letter for Pepper, and whisked Loki away for an annual leave with little to no idea what he would do during or after it, let alone any way to make a living except ‘we’ll find a way’.  
They toured Europe first, apparating wherever they wished to for a while, until Loki had the idea to contact Wizard Weekly and offer them a series of article on the theme ‘Wizards and Muggles around the world’. They agreed to do a one off first, to see if the public would react well to the concept, then turned it into a monthly chronicle when Loki’s gift with words and his witty account of their life as traveling teenagers received several letters of praise.  
  
They are now in New Mexico, sitting in an anonymous cyber-cafe in the middle of a nondescript town, and Loki uses an ancient-looking beast to type his latest chronicle in a program that might well be Word 98 -Tony shudders a little every time the beige-brown interface enters his peripheral vision.  


 

>   
> _"It is a common misconception,”_ the article reads, _“To think Muggles do not possess magic. To someone born and raised in the magical community, there is nothing more natural than waving a wand at a pile of clothes to put them in our luggage, or have annoying smears disappear with a simple whisper of ‘tergeo’._  
>  _It is true that, to a Muggle, these would seem acts worthy of wonder, and those of us who grew up wondering which House would become ours can all remember the bewildered looks of our muggle-born classmates when they first witnessed the sky in the great hall of Hogwarts. Many of us think, as they are taught to, that the Muggles have nothing worthy of our wonder on the sole basis that their lives require more physical effort than ours, and for a long time I thought the same... until I discovered the Muggles do have a magic of their own, and it is called the Internet._
> 
> _The Internet, for my magic-born readers, is something entirely immaterial, untouchable and, more often than not, invisible. It is a maze of science, art and music mingled together and traveling as electricity through metal cables until they reach computer screens (a screen looks sort of like a square mirror, but instead of your reflexion it displays thing that are more like newspaper pages, or sometimes movies, which are theater plays encased in the screens). All of this, I must remind you, is done without magic of any sorts._   
>  _In nearly eight months of travels, I have praised a good deal of things from various cultures of the world -Muggle and Magic alike- but I think I have finally found something equivalent to our Magic in the Muggle culture._
> 
> _Imagine, reader, being able to sit in your living room and, without moving from your chair, or going to the chimney, or using a mirror, chatting with a dozen different persons from various places of the world, accessing the knowledge born of centuries of science, and more books than you will ever be able to read! Imagine doing all this with a few movements of your fingers and not so much as a spell. Imagine holding all this craft, all this knowledge, and being able to put it away in your purse or your sleeve-pocket? I am certain most of you cannot even fathom anything like it, and little do I blame you! It is a work of wonder, unlike anything our culture ever produced, and all this without a an ounce of magic._
> 
> _It has often been said nothing in the Muggle world could create in Wizards the same childish and surprising -sometimes even scorned- wonder as magic creates in Muggleborns’ eyes, and it might have long been the case, but if you still think so today it can only be because you have never heard anyone whine about a computer belonging in an antique shop and ranting about the various available models like a Quidditch player talking about his broom…”_   
> 

  
  
“I don’t whine,” Tony protests, resting his chin on Loki’s shoulder, nuzzling at the juncture between ear and neck with a little more force than strictly necessary.  
“All you do is whine; every time I use a computer,” Loki retorts. “And when a miracle happens and you keep silent, I can practically hear your fingers break from all the wringing.”  
“If you would only let me explain…”  
“You mean like you let me explain spells during first year?”  
“It’s completely different,” Tony mutters, but he muffles it against Loki’s neck, and the movement of his hair makes his boyfriend giggle.  


 

They stay like that for a while, Tony nipping at Loki’s neck and ear from time to time, and chuckling to himself when the other shifts in his seat to accommodate for the sudden tightness of his jeans -Tony likes to see him in jeans, they compliment his legs. Loki’s control, however, is nothing if not exceptional, and he finishes his article without so much as a sigh for Tony’s mistreatment of his skin.  


 

“Do you really think it’s that fascinating?” Tony asks after they’ve printed the draft and left the cafe, Loki’s face completely expressionless even as the cashier giggled at his erection.  
“I do,” Loki says without hesitation, “but only half as much as your talent to make it work. That’s what I was trying to say, you know.” He pauses in the middle of the sidewalk, turning to look Tony dead in the eye: “I know we tend to laugh Muggles off because they don’t have capital-M-Magic but… what you’ve produced with these computers, what you do with Dum-E and whatever Project Jarvis is, that’s magic to me. You’re magic to me.”

 

Loki looks so sincere and intent, Tony can’t help but think this is probably the strongest words of love he ever received from anyone. And would you know?  
  
It even manages to make him blush.


End file.
